Metal clipping tool



April 14, 1 G. BOlL EAU 3,505,714

METAL CLIPPING TOOL Filed June 19, 1967 /N VENfOR GUY BOILEA U United States Patent O US. Cl. 29--21.1 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A metal clipping tool having lever-operated jaws fitted with metal piercing and shaping members for forming fasteners in adjoining structural members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a tool which particularly is adapted for use in forming a locking crimp or clip in two metal structural members.

In many types of building construction, the interior walls and partitions are not required to support part of the weight of the floors. The present trend in the construction industry is to take advantage of this absence of load by making the partitions and walls of lightweight and relatively inexpensive material. One type of partition in common use today utilizes metal channels for the wall studding and as well as the floor and ceiling plates. These plates are secured in position in the usual manner. The channel studs are then fitted to the channel plates and, when properly positioned and plumbed, the studs are clipped to both the ceiling and floor plates.

The tools used to fasten these members together are hand operated and have certain operational requirements if the task for which they are intended is to be performed effectively. Since the tool is required to puncture and interlock at least two layers of quite heavy gauge metal, some mechanical advantage must be provided otherwise repeated clipping would soon overtire the user. The tool should be designed to reach into awkward corners and to form a locking clip even when only a narrow metal flange or the like can be gripped by the jaws of the tool. Most important of all, the crimp or clip formed by the tool should be such as to preclude any possibility of relative movement taking place between the two structural members, particularly prior to installation of the wall panels.

.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Conventional clipping tools known to this applicant do not possess all the above and other desired features and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved metal clipping tool which will facilitate this hitherto tiring and time consuming task.

This invention contemplates a tool having lever arms which operate jaws through a compound leverage. The tool then is easily capable of clipping together several layers of metal. The jaws of the tool carry members which puncture an opening in the metal layers and at the same time crimp the sides of the opening to lock the layers against displacement when subjected to any normal stress or load. The several parts making up the tool are flattened and interconnected in such a way that the device can be used to clip metal layers having a width not much greater than the total thickness of the tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is an elevation of the tool in closed position, FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the jaw portion of the tool opened to form a clip,

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on the line 3-3 of FIG- URE l, and

FIGURES 4 and 5 are detail views part in section, showing the puncture formed by the tool.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, the metal clipping tool will be seen to consist of a pair of lever arms 10A and 10B which are formed of flat metal bars of rectangular cross section. The arms 10 are connected together at one end by a fulcrum pin 11. This hinge or fulcrum pin joins the two lever arms so that their opposing faces are in sliding contact with one another. The ends of the arms 10 remote from the pin 11 are bent outwardly to provide handles 14A and 14B. These handles are spaced from each other in parallel relation when the tool is in the closed position of FIGURE 1. Integral cranks 16A and 16B are provided on the upper ends of arms 10A and 10B respectively. The cranks 16 each extend outwardly from the pin 11 at an angle of about to the longitudinal axis of the arm on which it is formed.

Secured to the crank 16A, by a pivot pin 18, is a jaw 19. This jaw is in the form of a bell crank with the pin 18- extending through the apex or outer end of said crank. The jaw 19 has an inner edge 20 and an unconnected or free end 21, which free end projects inwardly a short distance beyond the edge 20 as at 22.

A coacting jaw 23 is secured to the crank 16B by a pivot pin 24. The jaw 23 has the shape of a distorted or modified bell crank with the pin 24 being located at the apex of the crank. Jaw 23 has an inner edge 25 and free end 26 remote from the pin 24.

The inwardly projecting legs of the two bell crank jaws 19 and 23 overlap and these two overlapping portions are connected together, side face to side face, by a hinge pin 28. It will be noted the jaws 19 and 23 are made of the same flattened stock as the lever arms 10. The jaws bear against opposite sides of their supporting cranks so that the total thickness of the tool thus far described is only about twice the thickness of the flattened bar stock used in its manufacture. In FIGURE 3 particularly, it will be seen that the jaw 19 is opposite to crank 16B. I aw 23 is on the same side of the tool as crank 16A. The two jaws are connected together in face to face relation as are the two connected cranks. The heads of the pins 11, 18, 24 and 28 are suitably flattened so that the tool thickness is not increased to any appreciable extent by these fasteners. It will be noted that, when the jaws 19 and 23 are closed as shown in FIGURE 1, said jaws are disposed at an obtuse angle to the axes of the arms 10.

The free end 21 of the jaw 19 is fitted with a punch 32 which projects inwardly from a fiat, rectangular base block 33. Two countersunk grub screws 35 extend through suitable openings in the base block 33 and the jaw end 21 to removably secure the punch to the jaw. The punch 32 is rectangular in cross section and is of lesser width and thickness than the integrally formed base block 33. Thus, the punch has plane or flat sides 36 and side edges 37 which converge slightly near the block 33. Shoulders 38 are provided about midway along the inwardly tapering side edges 37 and these shoulders curve inwardly to merge with a substantially triangular tip 39.

Mounted on the free end 26 of the jaw 23 is an anvil 41. Preferably the anvil is formed, in part, by short bars 42 of the same stock used to construct the lever arms and the jaws. These short bars may be welded or otherwise secured to the jaw end 26 and project inwardly of the edge 25' of the jaw 23, the bars then defining a recess 44 therebetween. Within the recess 44, the jaw edge 25 is indented as at 45 to accommodate the tip 39 of the punch 32 when the jaws 19 and 23 are closed (FIGURE 1). The opposing faces of the bars 42 are parallel to the plane sides 36 of the punch and, when the jaws are closed, said faces are disposed in close proximity to said plane sides. The side edges 37 are not opposed by any part of the bars 42 and are disposed at right angles to the opposing faces of said bars.

In FIGURE 2, the numeral 48 indicates a lentgh of channel such as might be used as a floor plate for a partition in an oifice. The horizontal plate 48 supports a number of vertically disposed studs 49 and the present tool is shown about to clip and lock the flanges of the plate and one of the studs. When the jaws of the tool are closed on the flanges, punch 32 and the recessed anvil 41 cooperate to form a rectangular puncture in the two metal plies. As shown in FIGURE 4, the two side edges 52 of the puncture are forced into the recess 44 to a slight extent. This bending or crimping of the side edges resists relative movement between the plate 48 and the stud 49 in a direction normal to the side edges of the puncture. The opposing end edges 53 of the puncture are turned inwardly to an even greater extent, see FIGURE 5. This increased crimping effect occurs gradually and in stages. The tip 39 first pierces the two layers of metal and in so doing turns the opposing edges 53 of the puncture away from the longitudinal axis of the punch 32. As the punch continues to move into the recess 44, the edges 53 are given an increased spread and curl by the action of the flared shoulders 38. This spreading and curling of the sides is increased still further as the tapered side edges 37 of the punch 32 enters the recess 44. Finally, the projection 22 clamps the clipped metal layers against the inner end of an adjacent bar 42 to stop further penetration of the punch into the recess. Because of the taper on the side edges 37, the punch 32 is easily withdrawn from the punctured layers of metal. Both the edges 52 and 53 of the puncture project into the interior of the channels 48 and 49 with the exterior surfaces being left smooth. Thus, the two layers of metal are progressively punctured and clipped and are held against movement perpendicular to the end edges 53 of the puncture. By deforming the edges of the hole punched in the metal layers in this manner, the stud 49 is securely locked to the plate and no other fastening devices are required.

The tool operator proceeds from stud to stud and clips them in place as above described. The relatively short cranks '16 on the long lever arms and the bell crank jaws connected to each other and to said cranks as described all combine to give the tool compound leverage which provides ample mechanical advantage whereby the operator can perform the clipping with ease and speed. Should it be necessary to clip a narrow band, i.e. the small web of the stud 49, to another metal part, the thickness the tool will permit the jaws to be entered into the channel and be positioned as required. The clip can be 4 formed without the jaw movement being-obstructed or the puncture extending over the marginal edge of the web.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool comprising a pair of lever arms, a fulcrum pin connecting the pair of lever arms together near one end, each of the pair of arms having an outwardly diverging crank at its connected end, a pair of jaws hingedly connected together, a pivot pin connecting each of the pair of jaws to a crank, said pair of jaws having free ends and opposing inner edges, a material clipping member carried by the free end of each of the pair of jaws to project inwardly of the opposing inner edge of said jaw, one of the material clipping members being a punch and the other of said members being an anvil having a recess to receive the punch, said punch and anvil being shaped to provide co-operating means adapted to form a substantially rectangular puncture in contacting structural members with said puncture having long side edges and relatively short end edges, said long side edges being projected into the anvil recess a distance sufficient to resist relative movement of the structural members transversely of the puncture, said short end edges being projected into the anvil recess a greater distance than the short side edges and being curled away from the axis of the puncture to lock the structural members against movement longitudinally of the puncture, said long side edges and short end edges co-operating to resist rotation of the structural members about the axis of the puncture.

2. A tool as claimed in claim 1, in which said cooperating means includes plane sides and side edges on the punch, said side edges having shoulders intermediate their length.

3. A tool as claimed in claim 2, and including a substantially triangular tip on the punch, said shoulders being curved inwardly to merge with the triangular tip.

4. A tool as claimed in claim 3, in which said side edges taper inwardly towards the shoulders.

5. A tool as claimed in claim 2, in which said anvil recess is defined by inwardly projecting side members having opposing faces disposed parallel to and spaced from the plane sides of the punch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,430,807 10/ 1922 Hoffmann 2921.1 1,891,767 12/1932 Ketcham 8l-9.1 3,261,073 7/1966 Klenk 29--21.1 2,748,866 6/1956 Zarnowski 29-21.1 1,674,844 6/1928 Spengler 30363 CHARLIE T. MOON, Primary Examiner R. J. CRAIG, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 30363; 8l9.1 

